Series: Kurt Wallander
by Author Henning Mankell
The Man Who Smiled (2006)
Book ReviewThe second review of two crime novels whose titles hint at laughter and joy, Mankell's novel The Man Who Smiled is in my opinion the best to date in the Wallander series. In the first review, we discovered the significance of how morose Martin Beck finally came to emit a burst of laugh...
The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries (2008)
THE PYRAMID is a collection of 5 short mysteries by which Henning Mankell introduces us to Kurt Wallender when he is a 21 year-old patrolman investigating the first homicide of his career. In a foreward, Mankell explains that he has received many inquires over the years about what happened to Wal...
The White Lioness (2003)
Book ReviewThe White Lioness, the third in the Kurt Wallander series is perhaps intended as Mankell's most ambitious Wallander novel to date. I say "intended" because on some levels it doesn't succeed as such. I'm a big fan of Wallander: his idiosyncrasies, his anti-authority attitude, his lone...
One Step Behind (2003)
There's something to be said for knowing the answer to a mystery while you're reading a mystery. I watched the first season of Wallander, of which One Step Behind was the last episode, before ever cracking a Wallander book, yet it didn't hurt my experience reading the book. Henning Mankell did th...
Firewall (2015)
Firewall: Any of a number of security schemes that prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to a computer network or that monitor transfers of information. What an appropriate title for this book, in more ways than one. First of all, the main area of investigation centers on trying to br...
Sidetracked (2003)
Book ReviewWe all get sidetracked, it's a human condition and a decidedly reactive one. The looming question, of course, is: sidetracked from what? Mankell asks this question in this, his 5th in the Wallander series. The subject is Kurt Wallander. Kurt's goal is to capture a heineous serial k...
The Dogs of Riga (2004)
Une fois de plus, Henning Mankell nous transporte dans un univers inquiétant, sur les traces du commissaire Wallander. Dans Les chiens de Riga, nous découvrons cette fois un environnement bien différent de sa Suède natale : les Etats baltes et plus particulièrement la Lettonie et sa capitale, Rig...
Faceless Killers (2003)
Book ReviewFaceless Killers, a 1991 novel and the first in the Kurt Wallander series, delves right into Mankell's favorite pet peeve: the changing political and social landscape of Sweden and in particular the influx of immigration and asylum seekers allowed into Sweden seemingly without barriers...
The Fifth Woman (2004)
Kurt Wallander - He works tirelessly, eats badly and drinks the nights away in a lonely, neglected flat. Still, he tackles some pretty incredible cases -- Here are the titles in the series (with a few extras) -Faceless KillersDogs Of RigaWhite LionessThe Man Who SmiledSidetrackedThe Fifth WomanOn...
Um Homem Inquieto (2009)
Henning Mankell is such a gifted writer that his genius shines through even in translations of his work from Swedish. I've followed all his Kurt Wallander series novels for years and was anxious to read the final book, The Troubled Man. The morose detective still found no joy in his life. That...
El hombre inquieto (2009)
Really a good read. Mankell has been recommended to me very strongly and I finally broke down (because I finally found a Swedish online bookstore I could afford). This is a very well constructed novel, with a well-thought out plot, interesting characters, and story that keeps you involved.This i...
The Troubled Man (2009)
"He searched for a Berlin Wall inside himself but found nothing." Quite a lot of introspection in this novel. Also liked the symbolism of the Kiowa tradition of carrying a weighty stone (representing a problem to be thought through) until there was resolution. And more political commentary from M...
La Faille souterraine et autres enquêtes (1999)
Wallander as young policeman, in love and unsure of himself, leads off this collection of four short stories and one novelette. We learn to know Rydberg and we learn about Wallander's relationship with Mona. His habit of knowing something he can't quite see clearly was established in the beginn...
Piramide (1999)
This is the first Wallander book that I didn't like. I finished it but I didn't really enjoy it. what's the point of going back in time and writing about his relationship to Mona when all they do is fight like we're already used to reading about when Wallander thinks back to their time together??...